When Life of Pi received the Oscar for best Visual Effects, Rhythm & Hues, the studio responsible for its eye-popping effects, had just announced that it was filing for bankruptcy. You can now watch the full documentary, Life After Pi, which explains the industry model that is financially bleeding VFX studios dry.

While ABC showed viewers the glitz and glamor of Sunday night's Academy Awards from the red…
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Directed by Scott Leberecht, Life After Pi uses the demise of Rhythm & Hues as its hook, but it's about the challenges facing the VFX industry as a whole. The documentary lays out the current VFX business model, which includes bidding on work for a fixed price—even though the desired product will drastically change over the course of a production—and the pressures on studios to move to British Columbia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world to chase foreign film subsidies. If you're not familiar with the flaws in the current industry model, Life After Pi is a very clear and eye-opening look at why studios that are pumping out acclaimed work are finding themselves in dire financial straits.